Cable reel



f 11,625,503 c. o. SCHOOLEY CABLE REEL April 19, 1927.

Filed Oct. 8, 1925 F I I3. I-

@ygw 646204119 5% i 7 W 8 Patented Apr. 19, 1927.

CLAUDE O. SCHOOLEY, OF PERTH AMBOY, JERSEY, "ASSIGNOB EEO STANDARD UNDERGROUND CABIIE COMPANY, .OF TION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A consonacazam. REEL.

Application filed October s, 1925. Serial No. 61,195.

My invention relates to improvements in reels for cables, and consists in a reel adapted to carry a cable in such position as to be accessible for purposes of testing and yet protected against accidental injury.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. I is a view in perspective of the reel of my invention, carrying a cable in place upon it; Fig. 11 is a view in side elevation, III a View in transverse section, of an empty reel. The plane of section of Fig. III is in Fi ,II indicatedby the line III-III.

such an electric cable as the familiar leadsheathed underground cable is ordinarily prepared for transportation by being wound on a reel, and it is'convenient, and indeed a practical necessity, to wind the cable u on the reel progressively, as it is comple in the factory. Ordinarily the coiled body of the cable upon the reel-is necessarily several layers deep. a reel, must be subjected to test, whether in the hands of the manufacturer or of the purchaser and user, andv for purposes of'test the be accessible. The reel is ordinarily-made of wood, and is spool shaped,.con-' sisting of a relatively slender drum or body and of opposite widely extending ends or flanges. It has hitherto been the practice, in order to make the inner end of a length of cable wound upon a reel accessible for test.- ing, to resort to one or the other of two e'xents. One of these expedients is to lay the first-a plied endof the cable against the inner sur ace of one extends from the periphery of the flange, and then continues in a coil upon the drum; the other expedient is to form in the flange an opening through-which the first applied and inner end of the cable protrudes. Both expedients are unsatisfactory. If the inner end of the cable extends over the inner surface of the flange the remainder of the length end, must and Fig.

The finished cable, coiled uponreceive the cable.

inner end ofthe. cable, as well as the outer of the flanges, so that it of cable is necessarily coiled against a. reel the cable endthrough a hole in the flan e and the abrupt bending are undesirab e.

The shield structure, Whatever it be, may be 1n ured,-and the shielded cable-end as well. Furthermore, an excrescence upon the outer f i'ceof the reel flange is an annoyance and an 'mconvenience in the handling-of the loaded reel.

The reel of my invention includes the usual drum 1 and opposite flanges 2. The body l-is ordinarily perforate axially,-as shown, to the end that the reel maybemounted for-turning upon an axle.

U on the inner face of one of the flanges 2 of the reel I form a groove 3, extending from the. periphery of the flange to the circular' line in v which the flange meets the drum, preferably tangent to that circular line, an prefera y spiral, or approximately so, to the axis of turning. ThlS groove in width will be sufficient .and, at its outer end at least, in depth also" will be suflicient to its inner end.

Comparison of Fi ..I with the remaining figures will reveal ully the invention and the practical condition of its emplotymenh The first-appliedend of a length 0 cable is in Fig. I indicatedat 4. It islaid in groove 3. and extends from the outer end-of In depth it may taper,

from a maximum atits outer end to zero at radius, and the inner emf is exposed at a point between the end flanges of the reel, where it is protected from in ury, and where its protrusion is 'no annoyance nor limitation upon the free normal handling of the loaded reel.

I preferably form the reel flange 2 with the more minute refinements shown in the drawings. The reel flange is step ed, or

rovided with an inwardly arrange cylinrical, extension 21 of reduced diameter. This stepped portion is less in radius than the maximum radius 'of the flange, by as much as the diameter of. the largest cable contemplated, and the stepped portion extends from the inner lace of the flange in direction of the length of the reel to a depth as great as the diameter of the largest cable contemplated. The groove 3, Whose width and depth (at its outer end,- at least) are determined b 7 the same unit of measure, is :tormed wholly Within this stepped extension, and the curvature of the groove is made continuous at the outer end With the curvature of the outer face of the stepped extension, and at the inner end with the curvature of the taco of the drum 1. This clearly appears in Fig. lill.

Fig. lll shows also diagrammatically the end of a cable laid in the oroove. The specially shaped flange ali'ords all the advantage of bringing the inner end of the coil out upon the inner face of one of the reel flanges, and yet overcomes the dii'flculty due to unequal strains, mentio aed above; it avoids those objectionable emditions, incident to bringing the inns. and out through the reel flange. The coil is secure, rotecled against injury in shipment; an a very ranch greater extent cable-end may he laid against the face of the stepped extension ill and, ultimately, may be accessible for testing purposes.

The extension 21 may be madeas separahle and removable part to he applied as reaaaoe desired. This also is indicated in Fig. HI.

l claim as my invention: 1. A reel for an electric cable including a cylindrical drum and a circular end flange,

said end flange being provided on its inner face with a groove extending spirally. from and in a curvature continuous with the curvature of the drum, such groove extending to the periphery oi the flange.

2. it. reel for an electric cable including a cylindrical drum and a circular end flange, said end flange being provided with an in nor cylindrical extension of reduced diameter, such inner extension being grooved on its inner face, the groove extending from the periphery of the drum to the periphery of the extension and being disposed at its inner end in a curve continuous with the curve of the drum and at its outer end in a curve continuous with the curve 'ot the periphery of the extension.

3. A reel hearing a Wound-on coil of elec- 'tric cable, said reel being termed as defined in claim 2, and said cable being coiled thereon with its inner end resting in the groove in the extension and extending thence upon the outer cylindrical face of the extension.

lln testimony ,ivhereot l have hereunto set my hand.

lUDlil h SCHOOLTEY 

